The Innocents
Music by John Lane and Allen Otte
Inspired by the photographs of Taryn Simon and the words and names of the innocents…
The Innocents was originally conceived as a performance art piece in collaboration with Cincinnati director Michael Burnham and a group of actors from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Drama Program, which complemented an exhibition of photography by Taryn Simon, The Innocents, at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center.
In the year 2000, photographer Taryn Simon traveled across the US photographing and interviewing individuals who had been wrongly convicted and served time for crimes they did not commit. The individuals photographed were exonerated through DNA evidence, some after serving as much as 18 years in prison. In most cases, mistaken identification was the primary cause of the wrongful convictions. Simon photographed the men at sites that had particular significance to their conviction: the scene of the crime, arrest, or the scene of the alibi. The Innocents, which is the resulting collection of photographs, have been exhibited internationally and featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair. In these photographs Simon confronts technology’s ability to blur truth and fiction. In the cases and subsequent lives of the Innocents, this quality of technology had profound consequences.
Inspired by the photographs of Taryn Simon and the words and names of the innocents…
The Innocents was originally conceived as a performance art piece in collaboration with Cincinnati director Michael Burnham and a group of actors from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Drama Program, which complemented an exhibition of photography by Taryn Simon, The Innocents, at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center.
In the year 2000, photographer Taryn Simon traveled across the US photographing and interviewing individuals who had been wrongly convicted and served time for crimes they did not commit. The individuals photographed were exonerated through DNA evidence, some after serving as much as 18 years in prison. In most cases, mistaken identification was the primary cause of the wrongful convictions. Simon photographed the men at sites that had particular significance to their conviction: the scene of the crime, arrest, or the scene of the alibi. The Innocents, which is the resulting collection of photographs, have been exhibited internationally and featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair. In these photographs Simon confronts technology’s ability to blur truth and fiction. In the cases and subsequent lives of the Innocents, this quality of technology had profound consequences.
The enormity and weight of the images and words of those individuals compelled us to create and to perform...
From the larger performance art piece, which included movement, music, spoken word, and drama, we have distilled music and words into a twenty-minute project. Through the use of non-traditional instruments, such as found or street percussion (rocks, pots, pans, trash cans, etc…), African Thumb pianos, and the use of electronics, the music and text illustrate some of the strong and complex emotions brought about by Simon’s original work. The music is broken into short continuous movements—each deals with a particular issue. For instance, in Transformation the use of processed electronic sounds illustrates two key concepts, technology’s ability to blur truth and fiction and mistaken identity, by taking the sound of one voice and transforming it to another.
We are currently seeking performing venues for the work for those directly affected by wrongful conviction, those involved in The Innocence Project (and similar projects), Criminal Justice educators and students, and the general public. It is our sincere hope that our music can bring about a greater understanding and awareness on the issue of wrongful conviction.
The Innocents
